Review of Bloodsport (1988) by Stuart K — 01 Feb 2011
HIIIIIIII-YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! From the infamous Cannon Films, comes a martial arts film that, that by all accounts, should be crap because Cannon did it. It has technical ineptitude on every level and alot of it is howlingly laughable, but against all the odds, it holds it's own and is likeable and watchable.
It also catapulted a new action star to superstardom. It has U.S. Marine Frank W. Dux (Jean Claude Van Damme) going AWOL to compete in an illegal, secret martial arts tournament called the Kumite in Hong Kong, he was taught as a youth by neighbour Senzo Tanaka (Roy Chiao) and it's stayed with him.
In Hong Kong, he goes to the tournament with American Ray Jackson (Donald Gibb) which is somewhere in a ladyrinth of back alleys in the slums of Hong Kong, and Dux impresses everyone there with what he knows, and learns he has to face reigning champion Chong Li (Bolo Yeung).
Meanwhile, military police agents Helmer (Norman Burton) and Rawlins (Forest Whitaker) are after Dux for desertion, but he's determined to finish the tournament. Despite the film being based on a true story, there's nothing you can really take seriously, and some of Van Damme's expressions are absolutely hilarious.
Plus the film suffers from bad dubbing and bad acting, but it gels and it's very entertaining. How did they do that!? :O.
This review of Bloodsport (1988) was written by Stuart K on 01 Feb 2011.
Bloodsport has generally received positive reviews.
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